The Industrial Revolution
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Industrial Revolution: During the 1700s and 1800s, agricultural and industrial innovations led to
profound changes in society. The world became more interconnected and industrialization had a large
impact on all societies, whether Western or non-industrialized.
Pre-Industrial Revolution
a. During this period farming was the main source of income for all people. Life was inherently
interconnected with the home. The death rate was very high – 1 out of every 2 children died
before the age of 5 and 1 out of 3 people died before the age of 20. London was the largest city
in Europe in 1750 with a population of under 750,000 (Dubai currently has a population of 2.4
million – 3 million times that of London. London’s current population is 9 million. Loudoun
County currently has a population of 310,000 for comparison)
b. Village Life
i. Wealthy aristocracy own village land but the commons allow families to rent in small
strips. This creates fair land distribution amongst peasants, but they live on subsistence
farming and have coordinated farming. This means no fences – village commons where
peasants grow food and graze livestock. Villages lived in self-sufficiency (just enough to
survive) with minimal trade from village to village.
ii. Rich landowners own almost all of the land in the village other than the commons and
rent to the villagers. The poorer villagers (land renters) lived in small, dank cottages with
their lives centered around farming. In this lifestyle, the entire family contributed to
survival.
c. Cottage Industry / Domestic System – Entrepreneurs made profits off of cottages working on
textiles.
d. Coal mines were located beneath many of the open fields and were often mined during the
winter months.
Beginnings of Change
a. Due to the increasing profits to be made with wool in England, landowners want to end
commons because of the need for more space for raising sheep (wool prices are high) and they
are looking to increase efficiency and productivity.
i. Enclosure Movement – When aristocrats began closing off public lands this lead to
scientific farming (mixing soils and crop rotation – 4 field system) BUT… leads to many
people losing land and being forced to cities.
Industrialization Begins
a. When landlords experienced success in farming it lead to capital to invest (money to invest in
labor, machines, and raw materials). At the same time Parliament passes laws to encourage
investment and growth of businesses.
i. Entrepreneurs were businesspeople who set up industries by bringing together capital,
labor, and new industrial inventions
ii. Better farming led to more food = more people with longer lives (also, less people died
after birth)
b. Great Britain
i. Workshop of the World
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ii. Had many natural resources including large resources of coal and iron, harbors, and
rivers. The government also had great profits coming in from the colonies and great
wealth in the country in addition to sponsorship of roads, canals, and, eventually,
railroads.
iii. Further, the climate was damp and cool which was very good for textiles
c. Farm machinery and enclosure movement led to less farming jobs and farmers look for work in
cities (especially younger sons who have little to inherit).
d. Textiles
i. Advances in machinery – Many advances accelerated the production of textiles
including John Kay’s “flying shuttle,” James Hargreaves’ “spinning jenny,” and Richard
Arkwright’s – water frame (the first millionaire). In the America’s Eli Whitney invented
the cotton gin which prolongs and expands slavery in the USA.
ii. The Steam Engine, invented by James Watt, allowed for factories to be located at any
location. No longer tied to waterways – factories move to cities.
e. The Factory System
i. Cloth production moved out of homes (domestic system) and into large buildings
(factories) near major waterways
1. More sources of energy needed to run factories, so with the invention of the
steam engine the Industrial Revolution moved to the cities
ii. Mass production
1. Josiah Wedgewood created first porcelain mass production – (“China”)
affordable for the middle classes
2. Eli Whitney created interchangeable parts: machine-made parts that are exactly
alike so you can replace items for cheap
3. Frederick Taylor pioneered the division of labor, where each worker performs a
specialized task on an assembly line
f. Division of Labor
i. Traditional life was lost as people were forced to do the same jobs repetitively without
respite for 14 – 18 hours a day.
ii. Each person would work on the same task all day. No longer do people have a special
skill, now they only do one task all day long.
Industrialization Continues
a. Transportation
i. Henry Bessemer created a cheap and faster method to convert iron to steel (from 1
week to 1 day)
ii. Improvements to all-weather (paved) roads
iii. Canals – by 1830 there were over 3000 miles of canals in GB alone
iv. Robert Fulton – created the first steamboat
v. George Stehpenson’s “Rocket” – steam locomotive (tell cool story of Death of Mr.
Huskisson who was run over by the 29 mph train)
b. Electricity and Thomas Edison – phonograph, incandescent light bulbs
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c. Communication - Samuel Morse, telegraph; James Clerk Maxwell, electromagnetic waves;
Guglielmo Marconi, wireless telegraph/radio; Alexander Graham Bell, telephone
d. Prices of consumer goods fell as mass production made them cheaper
Industrialization Spreads
a. Industrialization spreads to Europe and the USA
b. France – lots of scientists, but very slow-paced industrialization, few entrepreneurs, no gov’t
support
c. Napoleonic Wars kept continent behind England
d. Germany – successful industrialization (especially Prussia)
e. United States – Northeast industry
f. Three most industrialized nations: Britain, Germany, United States
Capitalism
a. Classical Liberalism – a political ideology that values the freedom of individuals — including the
freedom of religion, speech, press, assembly, and markets — as well as limited government. It
developed in 18th-century Europe and drew on the economic writings of Adam Smith and the
growing notion of social progress.
b. Adam Smith – The Wealth of Nations (1776) – the idea of free enterprise (capitalism) or Lassize
Faire economics
c. John Stuart Mill – On Liberty (1859) – the idea of a society in which all people worked together
with equal rights and good conditions lead to the best functioning government
d. Business Organizations
i. Corporations – large-scale businesses owned by shareholders
1. Stockholders and shares diversify risk but allow the middle and upper classes to
expand their wealth. Like “joint-stock companies,” this was a way to reduce risk
and raise capital HOWEVER, unlike “joint-stock companies” this was not JUST
focused on trade. These new corporations focused on manufacturing, railroads,
etc.
Changes to Society
a. Rise of the Middle Class
i. Before industrialization these people were bankers, lawyers, doctors, merchants (and
their wives worked alongside them in their jobs).
ii. After the Industrial Revolution, those professions were joined with the new professions
of owners of factories, mines, railroads, stockbrokers, and middle management of
companies.
iii. Education becomes very important but it is not yet available to all people
b. Middle-class lifestyles lead to a large gender gap – the Cult of Domesticity or Separate Spheres
i. Men = sole providers for family
ii. Women = raise the children and take care of the home
1. Due to increasing free-time for middle-class women there was a growth of
magazines and some women got involved in movements about social issues
(temperance, suffrage, prostitution)
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2. Boys were educated and went to school while girls learned domestic task that
prepared them for marriage
c. Working Class
i. Were at the mercy of machinery and division of labor – same tasks done over and over.
The conditions were very dangerous with moving parts of machines exposed – many
workers lost limbs. Dangerous chemicals were also used with little to no ventilation and
no protective equipment.
ii. There were no labor laws, so workers lacked rights (no unemployment pay, no sick
leave, no job security, no overtime)
1. They worked rigid schedules – 14-18 hours per day 6 days a week (with only 30
minutes for lunch as a break) for very low wages (with BOTH parents working,
many families barely made enough money to survive)
iii. Workers’ lives
1. Children – high possibility of becoming crippled or ill as a result of factory
conditions. Many children were caught in machinery due to the fact that they
were small and forced to work in tight, small places.
2. Working Class Women
a. Women did gain some independence – “Mill girls” who worked in the
mills, but upon marriage, many were fired
b. Many lower class women worked as Domestic Servants (working for
middle-class families) who educated children, sewed, and planned meals
c. Very difficult because these women were ALSO expected to live up to the
Cult of Domesticity – they would work 14-18 hours and THEN have to
take care of children, cook food, and run the household
iv. Workers’ Living Conditions
1. They working class lived in cold, crowded tenements with high rent. These
tenements had NO running water or bathrooms.
2. Due to the conditions, the working classes suffered poor hygiene – cholera,
typhoid and an incredibly high infant mortality rate
a. Cholera Epidemics: 1832 (killed 55,000 in UK – nearly 7000 in London)
and 1849 (killing over 14,000 in London). Another in 1853 (killed 11,000
in Soho district of London) was ended when John Snow identified the
Broad Street Pump as the cause – great book to read about this is Ghost
Map by Steven Johnson)
3. Pollution was a major problem – air was so thick with soot and smoke that it was
hard to see.
Reactions to Industrial Life
a. The Labor Movement
b. Workers united in labor unions – associations dedicated to representing the interests of
workers in a specific industry (typically fought for better hours, better pay, and better
conditions)
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i. Strikes (not going to work and often blocking others from going) led to many clashes
with police and military
ii. Employers strongly opposed Labor Unions and used government connections to try and
stop them
1. Parliament – Combination Acts of 1799 and 1800 prohibited the formation of
labor unions
2. By the 1820s – workers can meet to discuss working hours, wages.
3. In 1871 – trade unions/strikes made legal.
iii. Collective bargaining – union leaders and an employer meet to discuss problems and
reach an agreement
iv. Membership continued to grow in Europe and the United States, especially after 1900
Anarchism – is a political theory that wants to create a society within which individuals freely
cooperate as equals and opposes all forms of hierarchical control (government) seeing them as
harmful to individuals and their individuality.
i. "While the popular understanding of anarchism is of a violent, anti-State movement,
anarchism is a much more subtle and nuanced tradition then a simple opposition to
government power. Anarchists oppose the idea that power and domination are
necessary for society, and instead advocate more co-operative, anti-hierarchical forms of
social, political and economic organisation." [L. Susan Brown, The Politics of
Individualism, p. 106]
Utopian movements – desired to create ideal communities that would eventually lead to an
equitable society
i. Robert Owen – transformed a Scottish cotton mill town (New Lanark) into a model
industrial community. He raised wages, reduced the workday hours from 17 to 10, built
spacious housing for all of his employees, and opened a store in which he sold goods to
his employees at fair prices. Further, children were not used in the factories but instead
attended school. He tried to convince other factory owners that better treatment of
workers would lead to better productivity.
ii. Karl Marx – founder of communism. Urged the workers (proletariat) to seize control of
the state, confiscate the means of production, and distribute wealth equitably
throughout society.
Voting Rights
i. Reform Acts of 1832, 1867, and 1884 extended voting rights to many more people.
1. 1832 gave more representation to the cities (now 1 in 5 men could vote). This
allowed many members of the new middle-class to share power with the upper
classes.
2. 1867 allowed another million voters – most were working-class men
3. 1884 gave the right to vote to agricultural laborers (men who did not own land)
Public Services/Health/Education
i. Police and fire departments patrolled streets and the use of electricity to light streets
made cities safer.
ii. Hospitals were greatly improved and new vaccines and medicines were discovered.
iii. Factory Act of 1833 required 2 hours a day of education for children working in
factories. By 1870, England set up state-funded board schools for primary education and
in 1880 the Education Act made school attendance compulsory for children up to the
age of 10.
g. Pollution Abatement
i. Public Health Act of 1848 – Required the creation of sewage systems, paved streets,
regular removal of garbage, and also regulated water supplies and food sources.